WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (AFP) - As much as one-tenth of the Internet's sites may be blocked by Chinese authorities as part of efforts to prevent access to information on dissidents, Taiwan, Tibet and other subjects, according to a US study released Tuesday.
The study by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society found more than 50,000 of some 200,000 websites tested were "inaccessible from at least one point in China on at least one occasion."
Using a more narrow definition of "blocked" sites, the study concluded that 18,931 websites were being kept out of view of Chinese Web users.
Ben Edelman, a Harvard researcher and co-author of the report, said it is likely that the similar percentages apply to the Internet as a whole.
"I do think it's highly likely that on the order of one-tenth of the Internet is filtered by China, or recently has been," Edelman told AFP.
"That said, there are so many different ways to measure this effect ... that I hesitate to specify any single proportion."
The latest study was broader than prior surveys and gives perspective to scattered reports about websites that are filtered or blocked by China.
"We conclude that China does indeed block a range of Web content beyond that which is sexually explicit," according to the report.
"For example, we found blocking of thousands of sites offering information about news, health, education, and entertainment, as well as some 3,284 sites from Taiwan."
The blocked sites also included those of US news organizations including ABC News and CBS News, the Alta Vista search engine, and a number of US universities.
The researchers found that among sites with "keywords" of "Tibet," "Taiwan China" or "equality," 100 percent of the top 10 sites were blocked.
A large number of other sites with keywords such as "freedom," "democracy" and "HIV" were also blocked.
Among news sites, the BBC site was consistently unavailable, with CNN, Time Magazine, US-based Public Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald, and the Philadelphia Inquirer also often blocked.
"Of Google's top 100 results for news, 42 were blocked," the report found.
Religious sites blocked in China included the Asian American Baptist Church, the Atheist Network, the Catholic Civil Rights League, Feng Shui, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, and the Denver Zen Center.
China, with an estimated 45 million Internet users, has been widely criticized in the west for blocking websites and for jailing people for viewing banned sites and using the Internet anti-government activities..
Beijing is believed to routinely block a large number of foreign-based sites, primarily those featuring dissident views or banned groups such as the Falungong spiritual organization, but also certain foreign news sites and pages showing pornography.
A recent report by the US-based Rand Corporation think tank found that the Beijing government had shifted its tactics to use more technology to filter out objectionable content, instead of relying solely on surveillance of users and seizure of equipment.
The Rand report released earlier this year found Chinese authorities now appear to have more effective technology for filtering out undesirable content.
021203
AF021274
Copyright © AFP or Agence France-Presse, 2002 - All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission.. http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2002. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2002 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
